Vehicle

Review

This car is not a rocket, but it's got more than adequate pickup when you need it (especially from a stop). Handling is great for a non-AWD vehicle, even with the mediocre OEM tires. The seats are fantastic with large bolsters (don't know what the heck the Motorweek folks are talking about!). Absolutely no complaints about the layout of the controls, although the navigation system is unnecessarily awkward to use (I much prefer the Navigon & TomTom apps on my iPhone, but it's not built into the car). About 2K miles in and we're averaging over 45MPG of mostly city/suburban driving (but we still get about 45 on the highway, too).

Best Features

Fantastic MPG! Extremely comfortable seats and ergonomics throughout. Fun to drive on windy roads, even more fun to spend < $30 (barely ;-) to fill the tank! Good (but not flawless) bluetooth integration.

Worst Features

Navigation system is unnecessarily complicated to use. Factory rubber is typical all-("no-")season tires that the meager 134HP can easily make slip. While I really like the looks--much more so than it's Prius cousin--it's still not that distinctive. It looks quite a bit like a Mazda 3. (Not that there's anything wrong with the Mazda 3, I'd just like to see a bit more distinctive design. I suspect this was something of Lexus going out on a limb already, though.)